Council rejects move to build flats saying it would block neighbours’ light

A plan to add two storeys to a shop to make way for new flats has been rejected by a council.

The work to the former Hateley Heath Post Office and McColl’s convenience store in Jowetts Lane, West Bromwich, would have seen the building’s first floor extended and a second storey added to make way for seven new flats.

However, planners at Sandwell Council have rejected the application saying it would be too big and add to parking problems. 

Sandwell Council said a three-storey building would be “out-of-scale” and “unduly prominent” and would lead to a loss of light and outlook for neighbours. 

The local authority’s planners also said the extensions and flats plans did not include any parking spaces so it would add to congestion problems in the area.

Planners at Sandwell Council had criticised the plan for its height before a decision was made – saying the extra two storeys were “excessive” and “wholly out of character.”

The local authority’s highways officers submitted an objection saying the flats would need at least eight parking spaces and none would be provided under the proposals. 

Parking issues in Jowetts Lane and neighbouring roads had been raised as an ongoing problem when the empty shop last went before planners in November 2024. 

The shop has been the subject of several planning applications and enforcement action from the council in recent years.

Demolition work to re-open the Jowetts Lane shop had finally been approved by the local authority in 2024 – nearly 18 months after it had already been carried out by the shop owner. 

Sandwell Council’s planning committee approved a ‘retrospective’ application last November for the demolition job which had already started in March 2023 – work that attracted the attention of enforcement officers at the council following a complaint. 

The council stepped in and told UK Wide Real Estate that the extent of the work needed planning permission leaving the makeover half-finished.

A decision had been deferred twice with councillors eventually visiting the site only to discover that the drawings in the application did not match what had been built. This led to a longer delay while the plans were redrawn.